How did you guys pick your goal weight?

So, back when I first signed up on the OH website, I needed to come up with an answer to the question of what my weight loss goal was.  Since I was about 190 pounds back in the early 1980s when I got married, I just put that down.  One ninety.  Seemed like an attainable and tolerable goal.

Now, a little over a year post-op (RNY, by the way) I found that I didn't linger very long at my artificial goal weight of 190 on my way past it.  I get on the scale every Monday morning and was only a little shocked to find myself at 178 this morning.

I began this journey at around 310.  I was wearing size 48 pants and XXXL shirts.  When I hit 190 I was happy to be in size 34 pants and size L shirts.  Now, I can fit into size 32 and Medium.  To be honest, I really don't want to continue to lose weight if it means that I'm either gonna have to buy another bunch of new threads or wear baggy pants.

Have any of you guys had the problem of having to find a way to put on the brakes to your weight loss travels?  If so, how did you do it?

I'll be a little long with this one.  A lot of things to talk about.  I was about 300 at my highest...A lot like you.  The goal I (and my surgeon) has set was 190#.  I hit the goal and shot past it to 187#.  I freaked out...Thought I would end up in a rest home wasting away...Was so wrong.  My surgeon's partner would have set the goal of 180#...I wish I'd have know.  I started eating everything in sight!!  Big mistake!!  The nutritionist told me I was a medium frame before surgery...I just laughed.  Well, he was right and I was wrong...I was a football lineman in high school so I had this image of what I should be frame wise.  So alot depends on your frame...You could be a medium or small frame.  And if you have between 2-5% body fat, you should still be fine.  To maintain the weight you want you introduce a few more complex carbs to your diet.  DO NOT GO DOWN THE ROAD OF SIMPLE CARBS!!!  Once you start down that road it is a long climb back.  Going back to candy, pop, breads, pasta, cakes, french fries, potatoes, white rice, will only give you heartache and pain over the year...From someone who know.  If you can add more fruits and vegetable to your diet, along with nuts (don't go hog wild on the nuts...High fat content on many) you'll be happy.  Usually your body will tell you when you're done losing and will start to stablize on its own.  You may want to talk to your hospital nutritionist for more insight.  I've gone from goal (187) up to 230...Now I'm about 214...Fighting it all the way down...Stupid Carbs!!  My 2 cents...

I was in pretty good shape when I wrestled 250 in high school. I still could have stood to lose a few from there. I put down 225-240 on my surgeons paperwork. I got to 237 and rebounded quickly to 245. I have been 255-263 for the last 3 years which I am not particularly happy with however I am not too unhappy with it either. I eat horribly for a post-op and the only reason I don't weigh more is that I run a lot.

Now you "veterans" have me scared..  I had my surgery (RNY) 15 months ago.. I'm 56, 5'9" started around 325.. I lost 145 pounds within the year.. I was dilegent .. protein first.. no sugar,,  In the past 3 months I continue to drop.. very slowly but I've lost another 10 pounds..
So I finally started to relax.. In the past 3 months it seems that it doesn't matter what I eat.. I don't gain weight.. I'm 169 pounds and I've probalby got 10 pounds of loose skin.. so I don't want to loose anymore weight.. I'm in a size 34 pants and medium shirt.. Unbelievable when I used to wear size 54 and XXXL top..
I was away at a cottage last week, (without a scale!! yikes)  I ate tons of snacks, chips, chocolate etc.. and was so afraid I'd get home and be up 5 pounds.. well I was down a pound!!

So I finally given myself permission to relax.. to not fret and worry about a handful of chips in the evening. then I read about you guys rebounding!!.. I live in fear of gaining the weight back..
but it seems that my "pouch" still limits what I can eat.  I can still only eat very small meals..
Even when I snack.. it's only a handful of chips and I'm "full" or at least satisfied.. Where I used to eat a Costco size bag of Lays potato chips, now a handful and I'm full...

Am I still under the mal-absorption affects of surgery (this far out) and am I setting myself up for disaster where I will balloon back to my old weight from eating some chips or an ice cream bar.. OR  has my body finally found it's balance.. I'm retired,, but now way more active than I ever was sitting at a desk all day.. I garden, renovate, walk.. I have energy galore.. who knew it would be so effortless to move a body that is 155 pounds lighter!!

The only thing that I need to pay attention to is protein.. I have lost a ton of muscle.. My son brought his bow and arrow up to the cottage for us to practice target shooting.. I did not have enough strength in my arms to draw the bow.. I probably need to eat MORE protein,, but if I eat protein, I can only eat very little..(half a chicken leg), (couple ounces of steak).. etc..then I'm too full to eat any vegetables.  The only way I've been able to maintain my weight is to eat some carbs & veggies.. corn on the cob.. salad, little bit of bread, rice or pasta and lately some of the forbidden snack foods.

I may be kidding myself, but I figure if I ever start to gain (and I still weigh myself daily.. heck I weigh myself after every dump).. that I'll just revert back to protein first.. and I'll be full..

I was euphoric.. that my experimentation with forbidden foods has not led me into being a full fledged food addict again.  I was amazed that I seem to be able to eat anything I want in moderation and like those skinny people I always envied.. I don't gain weight.?  Am I just fooling myself.. am I setting myself up for disaster.. Please tell me it isn't so!!
John

Eating High protein won't build strength in your arms.  You build strength by building muscle and you can't do that just by eating protein.

John, you are envy of many guys here!!  I think what I (and many others) have done is stretched our pouch.  WOW  2 oz and over a year out...I miss those days.  It would make it so much easier on me to be back at that point.  At about 6-9 months I could tell my pouch was stretched and desired to be filled.  Keep up the good work.  Brian 

I will be brief in my answer.

I Pulled it out of my butt!

I looked at the BMI Chart and said hey 185 sounds good and would put me in a normal BMI.  As I then began to enter into a more physically active life style my weight loss became almost non-existant and I average 215 now.  I am fine with the stop in my loss most of the time, but there are days when I wish I had could lose more, I think ohhh I could have done that run faster or I could have run just a bit farther.  Then I look at where I started and where I am now and realise that it is hard work and conditioning and training my body to do what I do now and it has very little to do with what I now weigh.  Guys Like Scott, Nate and Bill run farther than I do and faster than I do and are close to my weight or a bit more but they got to where they are by training to do it. 

I really haven't had a goal weight that I have worked towards for about 6 months.  I moved my goals to more tangible things that show me some accomplishment.  The only numbers in my goals are Times and Distances and how long or fast I can cover a distance.

Well not brief but not long.

I'm in my late 50's, 6'5" and my doc set a goal of 200 lbs. I set a personal goal of 190 lbs.

The weight where I felt the best and was in optimum shape was 180 lbs and that was during my military days. But, years down the road, I felt 180 lbs would be too skinny. So, I made my personal goal at 190 lbs.

I'm almost 11 months post-op and hit my personal goal at about the 6-month mark. I now fluctuate between 185-190 lbs.

I'm very comfortable being at that weight. But, I still weigh myself daily (when possible) to look for any significant weight gain. I really don't want to start gaining back what I've lost. I've also found that it's not unusual for me to have a couple pounds variation in a single day. Don't know why but that's just what the scales say.

After a couple days of sustained loss, I'll make slight adjustments to my food intake. I perfer to make smaller daily changes rather than waiting a week to weight myself.

If I were to follow the BMI chart I could go as low as 160 lbs and still be in the "normal" range.